Mira bai

About Mira bai

Meera (Mira Bai[1]) was a Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She was one of the most significant Sants ("true" or "saints") of the Vaishnava bhakti movement. Some 1,300 pads (poems) commonly known as bhajans (sacred songs) are attributed to her. These are popular throughout India and have been translated and published worldwide. In the bhakti tradition, they are in passionate praise of Lord Krishna. In most of her poems, she describes her unconditional love for her Lord and promotes Krishna bhakti as the best way of life because it helps us forget our desires.

Popular beliefs about her life, which has been the subject of several films, are often pieced together from her poetry and stories recounted by her community and are of debatable authenticity, particularly those that connect her with the later Tansen. On the other hand, the traditions that make her a disciple of Guru Ravidas in Chittor, her association with Tulsidas and later interactions with Rupa Goswami in Vrindavan are more likely to be true.

Biography

Meera was a Rajput princess born about 1498 in Kudaki, Rajasthan.[1] Her father, Ratan Singh, was the youngest son of Rao Duda, ruler of Merta, and son of Rao Jodha ruler and founder of Jodhpur. Ratan Singh belonged to the Rathore clan. And he died in January 1528 in a Battle with the mughal emperor Babur.[citation needed]

Meera's mother, Veer Kumari, died during child birth when Meera was around seven. Meera was then sent to her grandfather, Rao Duda and father's older brother, Rao Viram Dev at Merta where she was educated.

At about 7 years of accompanied by her childhood friend, Mithula, who stayed with Meera till the end.

Her new family did not approve of her piety and devotion when she refused to worship their family deity, Tulaja Bhawani (Parvati).

She was married to Bhoj Raj, ruler of Chittor. There were no children from this marriage, and in the event Mirabai took no interest in her earthly spouse, since she believed herself to be married to Krishna. In 1521, Meera's husband, died in a battle.Rajputana had remained fiercely independent of the Delhi Sultanate, the Islamic regime that otherwise ruled Hindustan after the conquests of Timur. But in the early 1500s, the central Asian conqueror Babur laid claim to the Sultanate.

Her father-in-law, Rana Sanga respected and protected Meera Bai but died a few years later and Meera was then persecuted by the rest of her in-laws. She found Krishna to be her only support and resisted the wishes of her in-laws to give up her worship. Her grief turned into a passionate spiritual devotion that inspired in her countless poems drenched with separation and longing.

Meera's love for Krishna was at first a private thing but at some moment it overflowed into an ecstasy that led her to sing and dance in public with other who shared her religious zeal. She would quietly leave the Chittor fort at night and join Satsangs (religious get-togethers) in the town below. This behavior did not fit the expected behavior of a Rajput princess and widow.

Her brother-in-law, the new ruler of Chittor, Vikramaditya, was reportedly a cruel youth and strongly objected to Meera's devotion, her mixing with commoners and her lack of feminine modesty. Vikramaditya made several attempts to kill Meera and her sister-in-law, Uda bai, is said to have spread defamatory gossip and tried to kill her by locking her in a room for several days without food. But Lord Krishna sent a plate of food for her everyday and in return she Sang beautiful bhajans for him.

There are a number of popular beliefs asserting that Meera's brother-in-law Vikramaditya, who later became king of Chittor, after Bhojraj's death, tried to harm Meera :

He mixed poison in the prasadam or charna-amritam of Krishna and made her drink it. But by God's grace, Krishna changed it to Amrit.

He pinned iron nails in Meera's bed, but, again by God's grace they turned into rose petals. As she explains in one of her couplets 'शूल सेज राणा नै भेजी, दीज्यो मीरां सुलाय/सांझ भई मिरां सोवन लागी, मानों फूल बिछाय'

He put a snake in a flower basket and told her that it was a gift from him to her Lord Krishna, but when she opened it she found a garland or an image of Krishna. This episode is referred to in her poems.

At some time, Meera declared herself a disciple of the guru Raidas ("guru miliyaa raidasjee").

She left Chittor and went to Merta where she was still not satisfied or accepted and left for the centre of Krishnaism, Vrindavan. She considered herself to be a reborn gopi, Lalita, mad with love for Krishna. In popular belief, she expressed her desire to engage in a discussion about spiritual matters with Rupa Goswami, a direct disciple of Chaitanya and one of the foremost saints of Vrindavan at that time who, being a renunciate celibate, refused to meet a woman. Meera replied that the only true man (purusha) in this universe is Lord Krishna.

She continued her pilgrimage and "danced from one village to another village, almost covering the whole of north India". One popular belief has her appearing in the company of Kabir in Kashi, once again causing affront to social convention.

She is thought to have spent her last years as a pilgrim in Dwarka, Gujarat. In 1546, Udai Singh, who had succeeded Vikram Singh as rana, sent a delegation of Brahmans to bring her back to Mewar. Reluctant, she asked permission to spend the night at a temple of Krishna. The next morning she was found to have disappeared. According to popular belief, she miraculously merged with the image of Krishna.